Step 1: Materials

First, I'm not replacing parts - we're just woodifying them. Therefore, I decided to use veneers.

1. Wood - I'm using rosewood
2. Glue - at first, I wanted to use contact cement. But, at the last moment - I went with wood glue. Contact cement gives you one chance to lay down the veneer perfectly - this is not going to happen.
3. Clamps and/or medical tape (it does not leave back sticky residue and it not super strong)
4. Cutting template (I'm providing for my hp zv5000 so it can be printed, or laser cut)
5. Finishing materials - I'm using boiled linseed oil as I want the wood to age with time.
6. Materials for laptop disassembly - see disassembly instructions

Step 2: CAD File

First, you need a drawing of what you want to cut. I'm veneering the black parts of my front bezel with rosewood. So, armed with a caliper and ruler - I created a dxf of my bezel. To make things simple, I neglected to include screw and latch holes as I can remove these later with an X-acto knife.

Step 3: Cut

After your template has been tested - cut your wood. As I had access to a laser cutter, I laser cut away. Before cutting, I attached some transfer paper to protect the surrounding areas of wood from the intense heat from the laser beam.

Step 4: Finishing

Use your favorite finishing method - just be sure to allow flex if needed. For me, several coats of linseed oil.

Really nice treatment. I used to goose up my cars by using wood veneer on some of the dashboard & console areas in a similar way. The only thing I'd worry about (not on this particular use) is interfering with the cooling in a laptop. I doubt that's much of an issue in the screen area, but on other surfaces you'd be adding insulation, in effect, and increasing heat buildup somewhere. Personally, I add little "feet" to my laptop to raise it up further than normal, just to maximize the cooling. Heat kills laptops, I understand. My 10-year-old Toshiba laptop still rolls along fine, so maybe the extra circulation prolonged its life.

Beautiful,I have been wanting to do something similar for a while but am to cheap to buy the materials and am waiting for a cabinetmaking buddy to have some scrap.3M makes a veneer that is like contact paper but with real wood.It is used in refacing kitchen cabinets and would be perfect for something like this.Anyway,Nice mod!!